Paulie Pennino

Paulie Pennino (1939-22 February 2012) was an American meat packer from Philadelphia who was the brother-in-law and cornerman of professional boxer Rocky Balboa.

Biography
Paulie Pennino was born in South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1939 to a working-class, Catholic Italian-American family, and he was the older brother of Adrian Pennino by eleven years. Paulie was born before his father's service in World War II, while Adrian was a Baby Boomer. Paulie became the head of the family after his parents died, and he and Adrian lived together in a small apartment. Paulie worked at a meat rendering facility while his younger sister worked at a pet store, and Paulie became an immature, self-pitying, and emotional alcoholic who frequently abused his sister. He later became drinking buddies with Rocky Balboa, and, on 26 November 1975, Paulie forced his sister to go on a date with Balboa, throwing her Thanksgiving turkey into an alleyway and yelling at her; in 1976, Rocky and Adrian married. Paulie was a good friend to Balboa, even allowing him to use the beef at the rendering facility for boxing practice, but he was a casual bigot who disliked the African-American boxers at Apollo Creed's old gym and disliked when Mexicans cooked Italian food.

Pennino occasionally got into trouble with the law or with his family, starting with his association with the Philadelphia crime family in 1975; he became a debt collector for Tony Gazzo after Balboa left the job to become a professional boxer. In 1982, he went to jail after damaging a Rocky-themed pinball machine due to his jealousy about his brother-in-law, and, while Balboa bailed him out, Pennino harbored resentment towards him until Balboa hired him as his cornerman. In 1985, Balboa bought Pennino a robot helpmeet, which he later reprogrammed as a female and fell in love with. In 1990, he accidentally gave Balboa's accountant the power of attorney for Balboa's account, and he embezzled Balboa's entire estate and mortgaged his mansion for $400,000, forcing Balboa and Adrian to move into Paulie Pennino's home. In 2006, Pennino was laid off from his factory job, but he helped Rocky train and even helped him open a restaurant named after Adrian, who had died of cancer in 2002. Pennino died in 2012, and Balboa often visited the siblings and read the newspaper to them, often leaving a bottle of Pennino's favorite liquor at his grave.